Oh Brother
by c20
Summary: He was mysterious, beautiful, brash, and everything I never thought about wanting in a man. I didn't stand a chance against my new stepbrother.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: This story was largely inspired by anonymous573's brilliant story, "Big Brother". Also, I owe deep appreciation to Rumiko Takahashi, for her manga, _Inuyasha_, which provides the characters of this story.

* * *

Kagome looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sink in the hotel bathroom. A bored face with slightly chubby cheeks stared back at her, tracks of moisture still visible from the water she splashed there only moments before. Careful of her eye makeup, she quickly dried her face with a paper towel and adjusted her mussed hair before straightening her back and walking out into the ballroom where the remainder of the guests partied on without her.

This wedding tallied number three for the former Ms. Higurashi, also known as Kagome's mother. As Kagome turned fifteen this year, she could easily remember husbands number one and two, although neither of them were her biological father. The few things she could remember about either of the previous men in her mother's life were nothing short of pathetic.

The first, a former bodyguard named Tanaka Kiyoshi, loved to celebrate, usually with quite a bit of alcohol, any day or night of the week. The cabbies responsible for toting him home even had the presence of mind to look a bit chagrined when her mother sighed and handed them the money for their nightly fare. After half a year of shelling out nearly 4,000 yen a night she had had enough.

Second husband Kurosawa Tsukasa never celebrated. Although he always sent appropriate presents on her birthdays, holidays were supposedly spent by himself, probably typing numbers into his big, fancy computer for his beloved company. After two years a girl a few years older than Kagome turned up with a very pregnant stomach and a court order for child support from one Kurosawa Tsukasa. Apparently step-father two did like to celebrate, only with the sixteen year old interns at his prestigious company.

Shaking her head in the hopes of ridding herself of useless memories, Kagome wandered through the crowd to the open bar in the corner of the room. Ordering something sweet and girly was easy enough, once the bartender took a look at her generously developing chest clothed in rich burgundy Versace. While waiting for the perverted bartender to mix her drink, she turned and surveyed the room, her glance lingering on a beautiful woman in a Western-style white wedding dress who chattered happily with a tall, stoic man in a perfectly pressed tuxedo. At least this one would be wealthy enough to provide for them, and his apparent fame might deter him from knocking up a floozy even if he was a workaholic.

The ballroom sparkled in that way that only a 75 million yen budget could provide. Champagne, warm sake, and a mixture of traditional Japanese and Western delicacies seemed to replenish themselves as soon as they disappeared into the jabbering mouths of the celebrity guests. Kagome spotted her mother elegantly sweeping her way across the room, demurely meeting each guest as if she hadn't been hosting her third wedding.

Suddenly, the lights began to shift from dim and soft to vibrant and brilliantly colored, thumping with the music of a twenty year old band she knew her mother loved. Even though the band never appeared in concert after Kagome's third year on the planet, the prowess of step-father number three forced the band into a temporary reunion. Some of the wealthy and powerful attendees eventually got over their initial repulsion at the choice of music and began a sloppy and malformed conga line, getting bolder and more ridiculous as the drinks continued to flow freely.

She sauntered away from the horrid display on the dance floor and over to the table where crackers and other hors d'ouvres sat, more enticing in smell rather than name. Chunks of what looked like clusters of little black balls were lumped together on some of the crackers, and Kagome wracked her mind to come up with the English name for the seafood treat. "Caviar", that was it. Such a fancy name for what essentially amounted to a fish's menstrual cycle. Sighing inwardly at her somewhat disgusting thoughts, she allowed herself to become briefly distracted by the other foods on the table, accumulating some bits of rice and raw fish that she could recognize, as well as some foreign things that she couldn't.

After seeing the man she secretly called "Mr. Tall, Light, and Handsome" become her third step-father, she couldn't possibly understand how someone like her mother, as beautiful as she was, could bag the literal jackpot. Either the man had some skeletons in his tall, sexy closet, or her mother was a sex goddess worthy of cosmic praise. Kagome thought for a second and decided that a combination of both causes was to blame for the current, hardly believable situation she found herself in. By the time her thoughts in this vein had run their course, the drinks she snagged from the open bar began to set in. Choosing to congratulate her mother and step-father once more and excuse herself before she caused a scene with her tipsiness, she wobbled slightly out of the ballroom and meandered towards the elevators that would take her up to the luxury hotel room step-daddy number three rented for her that night.


	2. Year 1

Disclaimer: This story was largely inspired by anonymous573's brilliant story, "Big Brother". Also, I owe deep appreciation to Rumiko Takahashi, for her manga, _Inuyasha_, which provides the characters of this story.

* * *

Looking out the bullet train window at the scenery of central Japan as it zoomed by had a calming effect on Kagome, even if it was slightly mind-numbing. With her mother already gone from Tokyo the week before, Kagome finished up her last year of middle school easily, said goodbye to her few friends, waved farewell to her old house, and boarded a late-night train to Kyoto.

According to Takagawa Touga, or step-daddy number three as Kagome mentally referred to him, she needn't hire movers or bring anything to her new home save for herself and the few belongings she deemed "most personal." This left Kagome to gaze out at the night lights of the smaller towns she passed, choosing to leave her mp3 player in her bag in favor of listening to the _clackity-clack _of the train's wheels pounding on the track.

At least the fact that it was one in the morning meant her car was relatively empty save for the man snoring loudly with his chin resting on his chest, oblivious to the constant slipping of his large-frame glasses down his somewhat piggish nose.

Turning towards the window again, she imagined that she was a humming bird, flitting over the landscape in the moonlight in search of nectar or an exceptionally brilliant flower to kiss with her long, narrow beak. Her tiny wings beat frantically to the sound of the train, carrying her far away from her lifelong home in Tokyo.

* * *

She jolted awake as a loud bell accompanied by a robotic female voice announced her arrival at the Kyoto central station, her stop. Shouldering her backpack and nodding to the conductor, she skirted around the now awakened pig-man wrestling with his computer bag and stepped off the train onto the platform. The already muggy summer morning air seeped into her skin and frazzled her hair, the haze visible in contrast to the spires of the tallest buildings.

Checking her mother's neatly written instructions as to which local-rail train would lead her closest to her new home, Kagome walked towards the hub of the station, eyeing signs indicating which tracks housed which train lines. After noting the track she thought she was looking for, Kagome double-checked her paper, and upon receiving confirmation, sped her pace in the right direction. She groggily boarded the train, energy so entirely spent despite her twenty minute nap on the way from Tokyo that she didn't even turn and slug the pervert who squeezed her ass in passing. Turning just in time to see a glistening black ponytail slip through the crowd, she muttered to herself and settled in for the forty minute ride to the wealthy outskirts of town where the Takagawa house stood.

* * *

Apparently her destined train station was at the very end of the line, but still required a hour's walk or forty minute car ride to reach her new house. Luckily, step-daddy dearest sent a fancy black limo to fetch his newest daughter, saving her from the indignity of lugging her single suitcase through the Kyoto streets. The driver, sitting stoically behind the tinted glass divider, barely acknowledged her with a nod of his head, a sign the normally bubbly Kagome would have taken offence to had she been in a slightly less exhausted mood. They drove silently, weaving in and out of traffic towards the mountains on the northeast side of town, the famous shrines on the hills glaring down at her in austere self-importance.

Eventually, houses and buildings thinned, and the forests lining the mountainsides looming above town grew denser.

* * *

The leisurely ride jerked to a stop outside the city in what seemed to be a cleft in the rock of a particularly tall mountain, the trees crowding so thick Kagome could barely make out the outline of a feudal-style mansion wedged into the cliff. Pulled from her reverie by the silent driver, who in suddenly opening her door almost forced a frightened squeal from her throat, Kagome stepped into the misty sunlight and stopped abruptly astonishment. The entire city of Kyoto stretched out endlessly before her, miles and miles of steel, concrete, and brick extending in every direction, blanketed by layers of vapor hanging off the buildings like a giant spider's web. At her back, she could feel the massive size and impressive age of the structure on the jutting ledge, its bulk a supporting force as she gazed into the heavily populated abyss.

A snap from the trunk door slamming shut drew her attention away from the view, and the driver appeared annoyed as he waited for her to follow him through the front door with her diminutive personal luggage. The outer door of the old-fashioned home swung open with a loud creak, revealing a large courtyard complete with small fish ponds bordering the stone walkway to the inner entrance. Red and white koi blinked up at her through the spaces between broad-leafed lily pads, floating aimlessly in search of buoyant greens to snack on, blissfully oblivious to her awe at their brightly spotted heads glowing beneath the water's surface. Brilliant red leaves rustled softly as a breeze wound through the decorative maple trees in the garden, rippling over the fish ponds and picking up strands of Kagome's hair before flowing through the open inner doorway.

The driver shuffled quietly through the doorway, slipping off his shoes in the entry way and pushing them neatly into his assigned space before pausing for Kagome to mimic his actions. Glancing down at the stacked cubes along the left side of the room, she noticed her new step-father's and her mother's names on the top row. Her own name, along with two others, headed the remaining boxes on the highest tier, new house shoes in different sizes and colors filling each space below their names. The house shoes in her box stood out, their bright pink hue shining like a beacon against the dark wood of the cubby holes, a subtle indication that her mother had not quite forgotten her only child. Quickly, she replaced the tired brown loafers on her feet with her exciting new house shoes, scooting after the driver who seemed to think she wasn't quite worth his deeply important time.

Trying her hardest not to screech to a halt as she sped through the elaborately decorated house behind the driver, Kagome made a mental note to explore her new home as soon as she unpacked in whatever room her new daddy assigned to her. The driver came to a fluid stop in front of a thickly papered shoji screen, setting her bag in front of her before sliding the door along its ancient wooden track.

Although the house appeared old, her gargantuan new room certainly did not. All along the walls in various shades of pink and white hung beautifully painted tapestries of cherry blossoms, melding seamlessly with the modern aspects of a huge television, stereo, new laptop computer and desk, and a deep fuchsia couch on the raised floor lined with expertly woven tatami mats. Slowly moving through the doorway, Kagome stepped into her new room feeling slightly overwhelmed, coming to a complete stop when she saw a line of remote controls on a side table next to the couch. She picked up the closest one, the buttons of which sported various labels in English. Stumbling through the barely decipherable words she decided to test it out, hitting the button nearest her thumb on the bottom left of the remote.

Out of the farthest wall, through an unassuming wooden surface sporting tapestries to match other parts of the room, a raised bed topped with pink sheets and a white down comforter slid noiselessly. Gasping softly with delight, Kagome streaked across the tatami mats only to flop with an ungraceful "oof" onto the soft blankets. She rolled over slowly, sinking into the most comfortable bed she'd ever laid on and sighing through her smile as she glanced up through her window at the partially cloudy sky. Not bothering to shrug off her house shoes, her adrenaline-fueled excitement dwindled in a rush, sending her off to sleep in a matter of minutes.

* * *

The weeks of her summer vacation flew by filled with days of hiking the mountain around the mansion and avoiding her overly affectionate "parents" who seemed to take particular delight in raucously "christening" every shared room in the house. After one signature session ended in Kagome flying to the bathroom to avoid losing her lunch on the kitchen floor, she learned to spend her time exploring the surrounding area rather than brave her original plan of discovering the mysteries of her new home. This plan held her interest in the warm days of summer, but other than trees, rocks, streams, animals, and other "typical mountain stuff" as she described it in her head, the mountain held little in the way of entertainment. So, when the feel of the air turned drier and chillier towards the end of her break, Kagome returned to the safety of her own room and tested out her skills at old video games.

* * *

Finally, summer break ended with the arrival of a fancy new uniform for the expensive private school her new father signed her up for in Kyoto. After eyeing herself up and down in the mirror next to her bed for a few minutes, Kagome brushed her bangs over to the side of her eyes and smoothed the rest of the uncontrollable mess behind her ears and down her back. The sunshine gleaming on her trek through the courtyard warmed her skin, the ripples of the fish pond reflecting her nervous eyes as she moved warily towards the familiar driver of what seemed to be her personal limo.

The driver, who appeared bored enough to fall asleep despite the coffee in his hand, opened the back door of her ride to reveal a pair of long legs, clad conservatively in black slacks and school-appointed loafers. Nerves heightening in the morning air, Kagome bowed her head into the cabin and slid into the back seat with her backpack still resting heavily on her shoulder blades.

Underneath unruly dark bangs, deep brown eyes glared at her unblinkingly, the muscles of the masculine jaw that framed the angry face flexing in irritation as she peered over at him in confusion. The owner of the enraged visage jerked away from the door, rolling the down the window on the left side of the car to allow the smoke from his newly lit cigarette to filter through. A familiar forty minute drive into town took on a much more uncomfortable air, as Kagome couldn't find the voice to introduce herself, and the boy across from her obviously had no desire to reciprocate her feelings of curiosity.

Eventually, about ten minutes away from the train station she remembered from her trip into Kyoto, Mr. Stand-off-ish finally spoke up.

"Guess you're Daddy's new little step-girl, huh?"

Startled, Kagome turned towards the feel of his burning stare, stuttering as she attempted to formulate an audible response.

"Uh-um, y-yeah. I'm Kagome, nice to meet you…?"

"Name's Inuyasha. I guess we're technically siblings now, seeing as I'm the great Touga's second, less impressive son. Anyway, don't expect shit from me. We don't know each other. Got it?"

Unable to respond coherently for a moment, Kagome nodded before sending a questioning glance his way.

"What? Never heard of me? Not surprised Daddy dearest wouldn't say shit about his fuck-up of a son. All you need to know is that I spent my last year in hell, I don't plan on going back, and I fucking hate bitches. Especially bitches who talk too much and mooch off my old man."

Surprise finally wearing off, Kagome reared back, shaking her head in momentary frustration before opening her mouth.

"Good enough for me bastard, but don't talk shit about my mom."

Apparently that was the wrong response. Five minutes later found the limo driver Kagome had come to mentally refer to as "toad face" speeding down the block one passenger short after her new "brother" decided he'd had enough of her "lip." Huffing and adjusting the straps on her new backpack, she took out the school planner she thought she wouldn't need and flipped through the pages to find the map of the school and its surroundings. After assessing her location and figuring she had about nine more blocks to walk lugging her bulky bag, Kagome set off and crossed her fingers in the hope that her new school's administrators would grant the new kid a free pass the first time around.

* * *

Even though her wish fell short of the gods' ears, Kagome found her new school just as pleasant as her old one. The various acquaintances she'd made in her class were friendly enough, some even inviting the new girl over to their homes for study groups or movie nights on the weekends. Quickly finding herself a somewhat popular girl among the others in class 1-B, she allowed her bubbly nature to emerge in school, attracting what could only be referred to as more followers. Along with several girls who took it upon themselves to mess with her hair and makeup, greedily demanding answers about her past life, love interests, and relationship with her mysterious step-brother, a kind boy named Houjo befriended her. A bit on the geeky side, Houjo always offered gifts, compliments, an endless supply of mind-numbing conversation, and the opportunity to ward off her girlfriends' attempts at setting her up with the "eligible hotties" in their class.

On a sunny Friday afternoon in early September, Kagome switched her shoes out at the shoe-lockers at the back of the school before shouldering her bag to meet some of her new friends in front next to the bicycle racks. She heard male laughter through the rear doors leading out towards the athletic fields and track, and pondered for a moment before moving closer to the windows to catch a glimpse of the perpetrators.

At first, she could see the back of what could only have been Houjo's head of sandy brown hair. Moving slowly to the side while still watching out the window, Kagome could make out two more boys in front of Houjo sporting sneers and arms crossed over their uniform jackets. One boy's long ponytail came loose from the collar he had been required to tuck it into, and she quickly froze as recognition dawned in her brain.

Inuyasha, still sneering dangerously, uncrossed his arms and reached behind him to pull a black object from his back pocket. With a flick of the wrist, the switchblade snapped open, glinting maliciously as he extended it towards Houjo's face. Houjo stumbled back a few paces towards the window, and it was all Kagome could do to keep from yelling out or running for help from one of the classrooms. The other boy laughed quietly as Inuyasha began to speak, growling warnings from the side of his mouth that Kagome couldn't understand. In response, Houjo's shaking form nodded rapidly, shifting to the side in an attempt to escape his possible muggers. Retracting the knife as if his mission was complete, Inuyasha stepped back to allow his victim to pass and smirked to himself as his partner chortled more loudly.

Kagome's motor function returned in that moment and she ducked down under the window before edging back towards her shoe locker and racing towards the front door.

Later, sitting in her room and avoiding her homework by talking on the phone to one of her girlfriends, Kagome bemoaned the loss of her very first boyfriend in an overdramatic voice. Inwardly, however, she smirked a little at Inuyasha's way of "taking care" of the boring relationship she had found herself in with the overbearingly sweet boy. The roughness he displayed with relative stoicism was pretty hot, even if he was an arrogant bastard.

After hanging up her conversation with Yuka, she rolled over on her mattress and looked through the window to the trees outside, allowing her imagination to take her away from the gigantic house on the cliff and into the unknown. Sitting up, she turned her stereo on and put on her headphones, tuning out the world as she started to work on her homework assignments for that evening. With the volume of her music pounding in her ears, she never heard the door open, oblivious to the dark brown eyes that squinted in her direction before disappearing behind the closed door once more.

* * *

A few weeks later October dawned dismal and cloudy, sending brightly colored leaves tumbling down to cover the exercise track behind the school with a crunchy orange carpet. Kagome's gym period, always the most miserable of classes for her, failed to maintain her attention after she arrived ten minutes late. Luckily Mr. Gouken, or "Coach" as he demanded the students call him, was sufficiently distracted by the boys in her class sliding around on the seasonally slippery track and throwing leaves at each other, which allowed her to slip silently away towards the bleachers where she hoped to take a short break.

Again, the sound of laughter alerted her to the presence of the others before her eyes spotted them.

Feminine squeals and moans mixed with the masculine chuckles, and as she moved closer she could make out pale legs, brown loafers set wide apart on either side of male slacks. Hands bunched sailor shirts over taut pale stomachs that quivered with pleasure, husky voices whispering to one another as louder conversation and laughter layered over the sexually charged pairs to the back of the bleachers. Three boys stood slightly apart from the noisy couples, smoking with their backs to the woods behind the athletic fields. One had taken his jacket off, letting his shiny black hair flow down his back in a glistening wave, the tip of his nose and the blunt he puffed on the only parts of his face visible as she peered from her semi-concealed hiding place.

Gathering boldness, Kagome walked closer to the group, closing in on her "brother" and his friends who had yet to notice her presence. Calling his name in the calmest voice she could muster, she stepped into his personal space and his eyes widened, looking her up and down with unmasked disdain. His friends and their partners hushed with a lazy wave of his hand, eyeing her with mixed portions of confusion, lust, and derision.

"What the fuck do you want, wench?"

She could feel the appreciative gazes of the boys on her legs, ass, and chest, which, thanks to the scant material of the gym uniform, left little to any perverted imagination. The girls, noticing the shift in attention, stared at her angrily, letting out annoyed huffs in their jealousy. Mutters and questions directed towards "Yash" met her ears and she steeled her nerves before straightening her back and opening her mouth.

The glare burning from Inuyasha's deep brown eyes froze her voice, closing her lips with a click of her teeth. Instead, her hand moved of its own volition, reaching up to rip the blunt from the corner of his lips and throw it to the ground, where her feet had a mind to grind it into the pavement.

Time stopped momentarily as the pack collectively gasped, looking at their leader apprehensively as they awaited his judgment, which was sure to be both swift and brutal. Within seconds, the loud pop from the smack his calloused palm delivered to her cheek reverberated in the air behind the bleachers, the only other sound to be heard a quietly snarled "Bitch!" as blood and tears involuntarily began to flow down the right side of Kagome's face.

Startled, but not exactly surprised at the rough treatment doled out by her big brother, Kagome walked around the field to the locker room, stopping in front of the sink to wipe the blood from the corner of her lip and nostril. She winced slightly at the sight of a rapidly spreading purple and yellow bruise covering her cheek, dabbing it lightly with a moistened paper towel in hopes of tamping down the swelling before any of her classmates could see. Luckily, gym filled the last period of the day, and Kagome could readily justify an early departure from school after she changed into her normal school uniform.

The driver, who by now was used to bringing only Kagome home as Inuyasha's various buddies drove him home around three in the morning most days, waited by the schools entrance, dozing as he leaned against the driver's side window. Without saying a word, Kagome let herself into the back of the car, letting the driver know silently that it was time to go home. The long drive felt astonishingly short, and before she knew it the long black car wound up around the mountain to come to a halt on the gravel in front of her cliff-bound home.

* * *

Her mother stayed home nowadays, the wealth her handsome husband raked in providing more than enough capital to support the family. She spent her days "nesting" as she called it, teaching herself how to bake and decorate, and keeping her youthful body toned with hours of aerobic exercise in the mansion's gym. This time, the kitchen filled with smells of homemade noodles as Kagome walked through, and she could hear her mother's intake of breath as she spotted the new layers of color on her daughter's cheek.

"Kagome! Baby, what happened?"

Pausing in her retreat to her room for a second, Kagome turned to her mother with a forced smile, showing her that it was not that bad with a hushed, "Nothing, Mom. I just fell in gym class today. I'm fine though, don't worry."

"Oh, ok Sweetie. Do you wanna try these noodles I made? I know they're not gourmet, but I've been working on perfecting them all day!"

Smiling again, Kagome sat at the counter and accepted a bowl of noodles from her cheerfully grinning mother. After a few hours of chatting and slurping down noodles, she excused herself from the kitchen to go up and start her homework in her room.

Towards the top of the stairs to the second story, a faint thumping rumbled through the floorboards, alerting her to the unexpected presence of her older brother in his room across the hall. The blasting music poured through the cracked doorway, electric guitars squealing as drums echoed repetitively. Stepping lightly towards the door in hopes of warding off another physical attack, she peeked inside to see her shirtless big brother sprawled across his bed, entertaining himself with a particularly violent game on his Xbox 360. His foot twitched in irritation as it hung over his knee, the muscles in his forearms bunching noticeably when he gripped the controller tighter at every apparent disadvantage. The loud music washed over her, cloaking her presence from her oblivious step brother until she gathered the courage to toe more completely into his incredibly spacious bedroom.

Inuyasha paused his game, stretching and lowering a hand down to scratch his crotch before he noticed the figure in his doorway watching him. Leaving the game paused, he reached over for the remote to his stereo and jammed the power button before turning around to send a questioning glance her way.

"What the hell is it this time? Your sensitive ears can't handle real music?"

She realized that she recognized the game as one she thought she had perfected over the tail-end of the summer she spent in her room. His eyes lingered momentarily on the purple splotch on her face and the crusted blood on her mouth before looking back to her eyes, hostile expression still in place. When her face morphed into a shy smile he looked confused, but still nodded when she asked if she could try and beat him at his game.

He snickered softly at her first loss, his laughter growing in volume with added jibes as her death-toll reached the teens. She hunched angrily over her controller next to him on the bed, her socked feet tucked under her folded legs and the sleeves of her winter uniform rolled to her elbows. He had covered his formerly naked chest with a white undershirt and was leaning back in obvious relaxation and enjoyment as he easily trounced her again and again, glancing over from time to time at her frustrated face and tense posture.

After her twentieth loss, she turned to him, saying with a smile, "Thanks for turning the music off, I know you like that stuff but it was giving me a headache after a while."

With a scowl that didn't quite reach his eyes, he muttered, "Shut up. I didn't turn that shit off for your whiny ass. I just didn't want to hear your pathetic voice complain again."

"Thanks anyways."

"You know, my other nine step sisters knew when to steer clear of me. You must be one stupid little girl."

"Wow. That's a lot of step sisters. My mom's only been married three times, counting your dad."

Inuyasha's deep voice chuckled at that, "Well I guess that makes my dad the whore then. Ironic."

Kagome giggled, and then grew serious for a second before apologizing for her earlier actions behind the bleachers.

"According to my mom, my real dad used to get high a lot too. He ran his car off the road trying to light a blunt while driving before I was born. I guess I just got mad. Sorry."

"Whatever. Just don't fucking do that shit again. Your pretty little face ain't so pretty all purple like that."

Nodding her head in acquiescence, Kagome resumed her tense stance in front of the TV, declaring in no uncertain terms that she was determined to beat him at this stupid game. With the uncomfortable air between them cleared, Inuyasha teased her more openly, cracking jokes at her inability to play the game, her stupid friends, and her shockingly pink house shoes. She teased him back, calling the long shiny hair she secretly adored girly and laughing at the peeved expression on his face. He repaid her with six more losses for that comment, but lost steam after the sixth and finally let his newest little sister win the game she tried so hard to beat him at.

Figuring now was a good time to get some sleep, seeing as they had played Dead or Alive 4 until midnight and the limo left for school at seven the next morning, Kagome rolled her neck, closing her eyes and sighing before sitting up and handing the controller back to Inuyasha. He nodded at her quiet "Goodnight" and turned back over; resetting the game to single player mode and ripping his shirt off again to play by himself.

* * *

The limo ride to school the next day passed in silence with neither step sibling even sparing a glance to the other. School passed much the same way, although Kagome's friends gave her the third degree about the horrid looking mark on her face. Just like the day before, she shrugged it off and told them it would heal, ignoring her teachers' worried glances in her direction. From time to time she saw Inuyasha walking outside, most likely to meet up with the same friends he slapped her in front of yesterday.

At lunch time, after the thirtieth person asked her about her cheek, she sighed in irritation and stomped away from the group she had been standing with. Rounding the corner to the bathroom in a rush, she winced with a gasp of pain as she ran into a solid surface. A hand closed around her forearm, stalling her possible descent to the floor and causing her to glance up at the sly face with squinting blue eyes that slowly raked over her school uniform. Mumbling a quick apology, Kagome skirted around the unknown boy and into the bathroom before he could open his mouth to comment on her appearance or actions. Her shoulders slumped in relief and she made her way to the sink, peering in the mirror at her disheveled countenance and noting with disdain that her bruise had darkened to an even more angry purple, a sickening bile-colored tinge lining her cheekbone and down her jaw. As angry as she wanted to be at Inuyasha, however, her ire faded as she remembered back to last night, picturing in her mind's eye the lightness on his face and the way he told her she was pretty. Well, pretty without the bruise anyway.

The mark on her face faded almost completely by the end of the week, and everyone forgot about the incident except Kagome. She was left with food for thought and a sense of understanding towards her older brother.

* * *

Fall faded into winter, bringing snow on the mountain that clung to the crevices of the mansion's wooden walls and froze the surfaces of the fish ponds in the courtyard. Inuyasha had taken to riding home with her in the limo more often instead of staying out late at night and stumbling in reeking of alcohol. Kagome initiated the first few conversations in the back seat of their shared ride, but after a few weeks Inuyasha began to make small comments on her hair, the weather, a video game he had played, or a funny story involving a prank he and his friends played on the less fortunate members of the student body. More often than not they walked into school together, small smiles on their faces before they parted ways with a wave at the door and headed off to morning classes.

Her friends questioned her about what it was like to have a handsome bad boy as a step brother, some even getting so bold as to inquire about her brother's relationship status. As always, what happened between them remained between them, and Kagome in all honesty had no idea whether Inuyasha had a girlfriend, even though she secretly hoped he didn't. None of the sluts that hung off his friends seemed to have caught his eye, but she couldn't help the feeling of apprehension that bubbled up her throat every time she thought of him curled around a girl who wasn't her. Keeping these thoughts to herself seemed best at the moment, and she resigned herself to enjoying her brother's company away from the prying eyes of their schoolmates.


	3. Year 2 Part 1

Disclaimer: This story was largely inspired by anonymous573's brilliant story, "Big Brother". Also, I owe deep appreciation to Rumiko Takahashi, for her manga, _Inuyasha_, which provides the characters of this story.

* * *

When Inuyasha passed the motorcycle test in January, she didn't even need to beg for him to order her to get dressed and come outside one Saturday afternoon. Grinning at herself in her bedroom mirror, Kagome smoothed the miniskirt she picked from her closet and rechecked her tights for holes before skipping out the door and slipping on her boots in the foyer. Her leather-clad feet crunched heavily over the stones in the courtyard, the cold glare of the winter sun causing her to squint and raise a hand over her eyes. Turning to close the outer gate behind her, she missed the appreciative dark eyes raking over her form from behind the tinted shield of a motorcycle helmet.

"Well, what the fuck's the hold up? You comin' or what?"

Briefly startled by his gruff voice, Kagome spun around and raced to where Inuyasha straddled the purring engine of his deep red motorcycle. Gingerly lifting one leg to get into her place behind her big brother, Kagome barely had enough time to grasp the back of Inuyasha's bike jacket before they jumped forward, curving sharply in the parking area before speeding off down the steep slope of the mountain road. They zoomed in silence towards Outsu City, where Inuyasha had promised Kagome they could ride along the shore of Biwa Lake and possibly stop for something to eat.

After her initial fear wore off, Kagome's excitement continued to build until the hands once fisted in the material of his jacket unclenched, sliding around his torso to mimic the muscles of her inner thighs tightly squeezing him from behind. Inuyasha suppressed a shudder at the sensation, shrugging it off as a muscle twitch before readjusting his hands on the bars in front of him.

Kagome, on the other hand, was so lost in her elation that she hardly noticed the material of her once slightly risqué skirt now sitting directly on the junction of her hips and thighs. A wolfish whistle from a couple of fishermen by the roadside alerted her to her predicament and she gasped, poking her brother in the side to get his attention before attempting to yell over the wind.

"Yasha?"

Not one to respond well to nicknames, he gave no sign that he had heard her, instead revving his engine and maintaining his speed along the shoreline of the glistening lake. Jabbing him harder this time, Kagome placed her head right next to where his ear should be, screaming as loud as she could over the wind.

"INUYASHA, fuck!"

She could feel his back quiver as he laughed heartily, hearing his cute little sister cursing so colorfully. Squeezing her thighs around his hips even tighter in an attempt to stave off his humor, Kagome shifted uncomfortably and pressed herself closer to his back.

"My skirt's riding up!"

More fishermen offering loud wolf whistles lined the roadway, sharing lunch near the docks and enjoying the view of tantalizing young meat on the back of a shiny red bike.

"Come on, at least stop for a sec', those guys are eyeballin' me!"

Inuyasha laughed harder, imagining his little sister's crimson face at the drooling sneers on the faces of the harmless old men in fishermen's sweaters. Instead of complying with her screeched-out wish, he stepped on the gas, pushing his new toy twenty kilometers per hour faster and relishing in the wealth of sensations afforded by this impromptu trip with his step-sister. By the time they finally stopped in town next to a pier Kagome's discomfort had increased as her hair had now tangled beyond relief. While Inuyasha secretly thought wind-tousled Kagome was even sexier than ever, he thought it was even funnier to get her mad so he could see the fire in her eyes and the red flash across her enraged cheeks as her lips trembled with anger.

Kagome stopped tugging her skirt down and attempting to smooth down her hair just long enough to see the telltale shaking of her stepbrother's shoulders and knew he was just seconds from laughing outright in her face. Setting her jaw into her angriest scowl, she glared up into the amused, grinning face in front of her. She crossed her arms, both in annoyance and as a reaction to the realization that winter's chill had yet to fully fade despite the brightly shining sun beaming down on the two of them. Noticing that his stepsister's quivering no longer signaled her anger, but rather her body's reaction to the cold, Inuyasha shrugged out of his motorcycle jacket and let it land with a _thump_ across her thin shoulders.

"Come on, let's get somethin' to eat. I got a favorite place down there on the pier."

Her irritated grimace remained in place, fading slowly as she snuggled into the oversized jacket around her. Looking up at his back as he led the way down to their destination, she marveled at the muscles visible beneath his long-sleeved t-shirt, eyes widening in surprise when his long black ponytail swung to the side, revealing a small, dark tattoo on the back of his neck. Before she realized it, they arrived in front of what looked like a rarely frequented bait shop of some kind, the old fishing nets and boat parts that hung from the entrance giving off the faint smell of wood rot and fish. Inuyasha went first, pushing aside a large net that hung across an open doorway to make his way inside where an old man with overly large eyes sat behind a surprisingly clean counter.

"Ahh there y'are young'n! Been awhile since these old eyes seen ya last."

"What's up, Jiijii?"

"Yer lookin' at her, boy. And who's this pretty'n? Yer dad go out and get 'imself another lady?"

"Yea, yea, look we just want two of my regular and some tea. And make it quick, 'cause we're freezin'."

Kagome came back to herself at that comment, and she felt somewhat chagrined as she realized Inuyasha must be freezing his ass off just because she hadn't thought to put on a sturdy enough jacket for their outing. Quickly, blushing only slightly, she shrugged out of the motorcycle jacket and held it out to Inuyasha, clearing her throat to indicate her actions. Dark eyebrows furrowed as he looked over at the object she held out, and he sneered somewhat before huffing and crossing his arms.

"Eh, keep it. It's not like I need it that bad anyways. You shoulda thought to wear somewhat more practical clothing today though; you knew we were riding all the way down here."

"I'm sorry, I must not have been thinking that much about it."

"Oh well, next time just wear something warm and tie your hair up, it'll take ages to comb out that mess."

In about fifteen minutes the old man with the bulging eyes reemerged from behind a wooden partition holding steaming dishes filled to the brim with noodles, vegetables, and all sorts of fish and eels. He returned in another minute with two stoneware mugs and a teapot, setting them down heavily before nodding to two of them and trudging back to the kitchen while chewing absently on some unknown substance.

The food was absolutely delicious, and the tea warmed her all the way down to her bones. She kept her eyes closed the majority of the time, subconsciously emitting little sounds of satisfaction that made Inuyasha smirk around his mouthfuls of noodles. They spoke seldom during their meal, and when they were finished Inuyasha threw down some bills on the counter yelling, "Thanks Jiijii! See ya 'round!"

"Okay, boy, tell yer dad this ol' bag says 'hi'."

Inuyasha raised a hand in response, shouldering his motorcycle jacket and tucking his helmet under his arm before nodding his head at Kagome to indicate their departure. Kagome waved goodbye and bowed to the old man, whose name she still did not know, before scooting quickly after the disappearing form of her older stepbrother.

Once they were out on the pier again and she was still warmed by the recent meal they shared, Kagome got a chance to gaze out onto the gently lapping waves of the gigantic inland lake. Thick white clouds hung low over the horizon, a breeze somewhere in the heavens pushing them slowly over the black water before traveling to wind lazily through the hanging strands of her hair. She glanced up briefly to catch the corner of her brother's eye staring in her direction before he too averted them to the water and the sky in front of them.

"Ne, Inuyasha."

"What?"

"Who was that old guy? A friend of your dad's? How?"

"Uh, yea. My dad used to be an airman with that guy in the Self-Defense Forces. I guess they just kept in touch. Old man's name is Totosai, but I've only ever heard my dad call him that. Hell, even Sesshoumaru calls him Jiijii."

Sesshoumaru. The name rang a bell and Kagome wracked her brain in an attempt to figure out where she'd heard it before. It couldn't have been the name of one of her brother's friends, because the level of disgust that came through when Inuyasha said his name was too palpable to belong to someone Inuyasha held any sort of fondness for.

"Who's Sesshoumaru?"

"Oh, that pretty fag. He's my older _half_ brother. Don't expect you'll see him around though; he's lived in Korea for the last five years running that branch of my dad's company. A real 'shining star' in the Takagawa family."

The last sentence was uttered with dripping sarcasm, and the sneer that came across Inuyasha's face matched the feeling of ultimate disdain Kagome felt directed towards his older brother. The only sibling Inuyasha ever had with any real blood ties, as he emphasized the term 'half' rather than 'step' before 'brother'.

An image of orderly shoe boxes with a line of names on the top flashed through her mind, and she remembered a pair of exquisite deep blue silk house slippers underneath the heading 'Sesshoumaru'. Shaking her head to dispel the distracting image, Kagome stepped forward and surprised her now surly stepbrother by lacing her arm through his and gently pulling him along towards the end of the pier.

She nudged him until they reached the end, pushing him with a bit of force until he bent his knees and leaned back against the barrels they found stacked and bound with lengths of rope. Crouching next to him with her boots tucked under her thighs, she shifted over and rested her head against his shoulder as they looked out on the rapidly approaching sunset together.

Orange and pink spread like spilled paint across the sky, coating the aimlessly floating puffy clouds with a wealth of warm colors. The fat, slowly burning sun rippled across the water, turning red as it dipped below the water's surface, its reflection long and brilliant and almost reaching the pier where the two sat huddled together against the encroaching cold of a winter's night.

After an hour or so, a mournful moon beamed down from the opposite end of the sky, the vapor from their exhaled breaths combining thickly in the frigid air, and Inuyasha looked down at his shoulder to find his newest little stepsister fast asleep and slumped against him. He paused a second to take in the peace written across her face before wiping a gloved hand over her forehead, successfully waking her so that they could go home.

"Come on, sleepyhead. We gotta get goin'."

The ride back was dreamlike, and Kagome's eyes struggled against the wind as they tried to take in the dancing moonlight playing across the forest floor in between bare winter trees, their branches gnarled and reaching desperately upwards. Pieces of Inuyasha's silky black hair slipped below the back of his helmet, mixing with her own locks as she moved closer to his warmth and rested her head against the back of his neck.

By the time they reached the mansion on the mountain, Inuyasha parked his bike and sat there for a moment, the two of them resting on the back of the bike and staring out together at the moon as it shone down on the bustling metropolis below. Eventually, as the cold seeped into their clothes and they realized how late it had gotten, they detached themselves and quietly made their way into the quiet house, their parents asleep and unconcerned with the whereabouts of the two children who spent the day in each others' company.

* * *

They had an understanding between them now. Every Sunday, the two of them took off on Inuyasha's bike to the same pier in Outsu City, eating noodles and chatting with Totosai before watching the sunset and riding back in silence to Kyoto. The days got progressively warmer, but by now Kagome knew enough to wear jeans and a substantial jacket on each of their trips, choosing to limit her cuteness in order to avoid either of them catching pneumonia because of her vanity. The conversations they had now were more varied, addressing everything from family to politics, and Kagome was surprised and pleased to learn how intelligent her big brother was, despite all evidence to the contrary. She told him of her dream to be a lawyer, defending the defenseless, and even though he scoffed a bit, he inwardly respected his little sister for not being such an airhead as he originally thought.

She was making better friends in school now, too, apart from the girls who originally befriended her because of her bubbly attitude and 'new student' status. Two girls in particular, Sango and Rin, became the two best friends she had aside from her secretly deep relationship with her older brother. The two girls, once her partners in gym class, now hung with her everywhere in school and sometimes afterward. Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi, her first acquaintances at her new school, were still friendly with her, but she did little more than say hi to them in the halls or talk on the phone when they had trouble with their homework.

* * *

It was Friday again. Rin and Sango were planning on buying some beers from a machine on the street and watching old Zatoichi movies back at the apartment Sango shared with her younger brother, Kohaku. As always, Kagome's weekly allowance of 2,000 yen was expected to foot the bill for the booze, while the other girls would make food and download the movies for their little party. Rin's foster family rarely gave her any money other than paying for the part of her tuition the government allotment failed to cover, and Sango's part time job barely left her enough for rent and food for her and her brother, but the three managed to have a good time every weekend they got together.

Excited about the plans in store for tonight, Kagome made her way towards her shoe locker to switch out her shoes before heading to the train station that would get her to Sango's downtown apartment. Always one of the last to leave, she was used to silence in the halls and absence of all other people, and was therefore surprised to see a classroom door open at the end of the hall with faint noises whispering through.

As quietly as possible, she edged her way down the row of shoe lockers towards the open door, her socks muffling the sound of her feet on the floor as she peeked through the opening.

A curtain of black hair fell over the back of white male uniform shirt, shielding the boys face from view, even as the noises of lips smacking and very feminine moans met her ears. The boy's head shifted to the left, the strands of black hair falling over his shoulder to reveal a very familiar tattoo on the back of his neck. Her small white hand concealed a sudden gasp as she fell back behind the door, hoping the passion of the two within the room would blind them to her presence. After watching her brother making out with the unknown girl for a few more seconds, Kagome decided she had enough and made her way back to her shoe locker silently, trading her shoes out before making her way to the train station.

She bought twice the normal amount of alcohol that night, getting all three of them very drunk as she demanded to know if either of the others knew about her brother's new 'girlfriend.' Both shook their heads fervently as they solemnly slurred vows of ignorance to their distraught friend. Groaning and slumping back onto the back of the couch, Kagome picked up another beer and glared blearily at _Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman_ as she contemplated the unfairness of her current situation.

Inuyasha didn't pick her up for a motorcycle ride that Sunday.

* * *

After her sixteenth birthday in early March, things went steadily downhill for the relationship between Kagome and Inuyasha. They no longer rode in the limo together, and Kagome opted more and more for going over to Sango's house after school to give Inuyasha and his new girlfriend, Kikyo, all the time and space they wanted in his room across the hall. Oblivious as always, her mother bought her excuses about extra coursework easily, allowing her to stay at Sango's house as much as she wanted, where she could drink a little in hopes of forgetting about the no longer existent relationship she shared with her older brother. For Inuyasha's part, aside from unabashedly exhibiting his hickeys by tucking his ponytail into his school uniform, he made few attempts to talk to or maintain any sort of relationship with his stepsister.

The exhibitionist couple's four month anniversary was one she unfortunately had to spend at home, as she had an exam the next day and couldn't afford to spend the night out instead of studying. She could see the gaudy platform heels in one of the shoe boxes in the foyer, a pair of guest's house shoes missing merely another signal that an unwanted guest had arrived. Moving stealthily up the stairs, Kagome could hear the sounds of feminine pleasure vibrating through the door to her older brother's room, as well as the masculine grunts that could only have been Inuyasha's. She stood out in the hall in a daze for what seemed like an hour before shaking her head abruptly, shuffling backwards through her own doorway only to slump to the floor and look longingly at the green motorcycle helmet her brother had bought her after their first bike ride together.

Cries of ecstasy pierced the night as she tried to sleep, devouring her dreams and turning them into nightmares starring someone who looked like her, but was not.

* * *

He ignored her now on their rides to school, in the hallways at school, and anywhere the two might run into each other. He came home on the days she spent at home late at night, reeking of alcohol again. He made out with Kikyo every chance he got: in the hall, in the library, at lunch, on the roof, behind the bleachers, on the back of his bike after they came back from a ride.

Kagome hung out with her friends more and more, going to parties they invited her to, buying drinks to hang out on the weekends, finding excuses just to avoid spending any length of time in her shared home.

* * *

One weekend, when she knew Inuyasha and his dad had flown to Korea to visit with Sesshoumaru and talk business about their overseas operations, she saw Kikyo at a party.

One of Rin's foster siblings, Kagura, was taking advantage of their foster parents' weekend absence to throw a huge party in the house they lived in at the outskirts of town. People Kagome never met before lined the hallways of the cramped little home, no one even bothering to take off their shoes as they tramped through the living room and kitchen holding beers and liquor drinks and challenging each other to drinking contests. Kagome had just gone shot for shot with a guy she knew from her algebra class, downing more alcohol than she usually consumed in an entire week, and got up to stumble to the bathroom with Sango's help. After ridding herself of about half of what she drank, she decided not to drink anymore, and they both shuffled down the hallway towards Rin's room where they had agreed to spend the night that night.

Rin's bedroom was at the end of the hall, away from the noise of the party, with a lock on the door that only the three of them had keys to open. On the way, the doors of some of the other rooms that had been open when the party started had been tightly sealed, though they shook slightly in their frames from the activity within. One door, right next to Rin's, had been left cracked open, and the moans erupting from the doorway sounded oddly familiar to Kagome. Peeking around the corner of the wooden entrance, Kagome's eyes widened as she saw Kikyo, half dressed and perched atop Kagura's friend, Naraku, rubbing her breasts and grinding lasciviously on a man who wasn't Inuyasha. Backing off slowly, Kagome made her way into Rin's room where she collapsed and slept it off until the next day.

* * *

She tried to corner him on the way to school on Monday. While they were in the limo and he couldn't escape her, she looked at him seriously in the eye and said, "We need to talk."

He let out a quiet "Keh" at her, lazily lighting a cigarette and rolling down the window while pretending to ignore her. She began by asking him how his trip went, how his father and brother were doing, and how he liked Korea. When all she received were mumbled grunts in response, she tried a different tack.

"I saw Kikyo on Friday, Inuyasha."

Although he looked in her direction with a bored expression, he let no words escape to indicate his thoughts on her comment. He shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly and turned towards the window again. Feeling frustrated, Kagome edged closer, nudging him to gain his attention and opening her mouth when he turned to face her again.

"She was at a party I went to at Rin's. Uh-I sorta saw her with Naraku that night."

No apparent surprise crossed his face, though his eyes turned stony and cold before he looked away again, shoving her forcefully back towards the opposite window.

"Did you hear me, I said I saw her with another guy, Inuyasha."

Again, he ignored her, and this time he neither glanced in her direction nor grunted at her for the remainder of the ride to school. When she made to follow him from the car in to class, he turned to her with fire in his eyes.

"Fuck. Off. Bitch."

Though her heart sank with those three words, she hung back as he stomped off towards the school building, following only when he was well out of sight. Her friends asked her all day what was wrong with her.

* * *

She stopped going over to Sango's everyday of the week, opting only to go on Wednesdays and Fridays, when she knew Inuyasha wouldn't be home anyway. The nights she was home, she stayed up until she heard him stumble up the stairs, leaving a bedside lamp on and her door unlocked, just in case he came to his senses and wanted to talk.

After about a month of this, Inuyasha had been hanging out with his friends more and more after school, and she hadn't seen or heard from Kikyo in about as much time. She left her room open again that night, the first breezes of summer making their way leisurely through her open window and leaving a fresh scent on her pillow. A crash from downstairs alerted her to her brother's arrival, and she tracked his movements by sound as he made his way up the stairs and around the corner through the door to his room. She could hear a series of thumps coming from his closed door, the obvious _pop_ of a beer can tab reverberating across the hall as she listened on. Feeling a little nervous, she closed her door, though she left the lamp on and the window open out of a mixture of habit and hope.

Dozing lightly under the light of the early summer moon, Kagome woke with a start when she felt hands on her breast and thigh over her thin blanket. Heavy breaths fell against her right cheek, large hands squeezing and groping as her stepbrother moaned drunkenly in her ear.

"You're so hot, you know that. So fucking hot."

He made to push the blanket off, pulling the tank top she fell asleep in down with it. Still delirious with sleep, she didn't catch on to what he was trying to do until her left nipple met the chilly open air. A softly mumbled "Kikyoooooh" reverberated in her ear, sealing the deal and sparking her inner rage to explosive proportions.

Punching him squarely in the side on the head, she let out an angry screech, shoving him as hard as she could until she was satisfied with the loud _bam_ his body made as it connected with the tatami mats beside her bed.

"Get the FUCK out, Inuyasha!"

Kicking him lightly, Kagome attempted to nudge him towards the door as Inuyasha grumbled and said "C'mon baby...c'mon."

She locked the door and kept the light off after that, and things continued through June the way they had been, but Kikyo no longer came over to the house and they were content to make out in the classroom Kagome first saw them in after school.

* * *

The first term of Kagome's second year in high school ended with the announcement of Kikyo's pregnancy. As she and Inuyasha had never actually had sex, the only other choice for the father was the guy she was spotted with at Kagura's party: Naraku. Inuyasha was understandably floored.

Instead of going out to cure his depression with alcohol, like she had expected, however, he merely smoked blunts in his room all day every day, getting high as he played video games and listened to angry rock music. For the first two weeks of their summer vacation Kagome looked into his room from the hallway, hoping in vain that he would turn and look her way, perhaps invite her in so they could battle each other again as they did so long ago. Every time she peeked through his doorway, the muscles underneath the bare skin of his back rippled alluringly, teasing her as she tried to keep her distance out of respect for her hurting older stepbrother.

* * *

Eventually, she, Sango, and Rin began to hang out with other kids that were stuck in town for the summer, going to parties and out to the lake any chance they got. Inuyasha still refused to ask her to go on Sunday rides out to Outsu City, so she got the chance to attend numerous beach bonfires throughout July. A couple guys they didn't usually chill with before started hanging out with their crowd, coming to the parties and sometimes even Sango's house when the weather was bad. One of the ones she recognized was the guy with the wild blue eyes who caught her as she fell during her first few weeks of school.

Kouga was hot, dangerous, had a fast car, and lots of money. He was obviously experienced sexually, and constantly tried to get her to do things when they were alone that she had never done before. He was really affectionate, gave her rides everywhere, paid for everything, and bought her lots of presents, but she still felt like something was missing with him. The smug smile plastered to his face every time they went out made her feel like he thought of her as an arm decoration or something.

* * *

Sango and Rin had started dating that summer too, so they had less time to hang out as vacation proceeded. One of Inuyasha's friends, Miroku, who was a known pervert and orphan, started working at the same martial arts studio as Sango and impressed her one day when he bravely withstood her full-on assault. After wrapping his broken hand and nose with gauze and bandages, Sango commended his courage and agreed to go to the movies with him. They became inseparable.

Rin, on the other hand, with her quiet demeanor and cute personality, was avidly pursued on all sides. Though she rarely agreed to date any of her avid admirers, her attractive qualities and humility continued to draw them like moths to a flame. Until Sesshoumaru came home that is. Deciding that he needed a break from Korea during the summer business lull, Inuyasha's older brother ventured home and had been living in the house with the four of them.

One day, when Rin and Sango were over enjoying the pool and cool forest at Kagome's mountain home, Rin went to get a soda from the kitchen and never came back. When Kagome went to see what was going on, she rounded the corner to the kitchen only to see Sesshoumaru, his arms wrapped tightly around Rin, set her friend gently on the counter and move in to kiss her deeply. Seems the two knew each other long before Kagome ever transferred to her new high school.

* * *

Inuyasha came out of his room once a day, reeking of blunts, to scrounge for food and get into the occasional argument with his uptight older brother. He maintained distance from Kagome, though, avoiding even eye contact should they bump into each other in the kitchen or bathroom. She began to wonder if the slight blush visible on his cheeks every time he saw her was evidence of shame for his actions the one night he accosted her in her room. Every time this thought entered her head, though, she shook it off as wishful thinking, instead ascribing the light pink flush as an indication of lingering, burning rage at her for speaking up about Kikyou.

Kouga picked her up every day around noon, laughing loudly and making lusty comments about her body as he guided her into his car, glancing up at the angry figure staring down on him from an upstairs window with a smirk before speeding off down the driveway.

One day, Kagome wasn't quite ready when Kouga arrived, and she instructed him to wait in the kitchen and get a drink while she touched up her hair and makeup. She was lining the lower lid of her left eye when she heard growling shouts and breaking glass from downstairs.

Running as fast as she could, she skidded into the kitchen in time to see her older brother on top of Kouga, one bloody fist wrapped around the front of the other boy's shirt as the other smashed into the right side of his face. A drink glass lay shattered on the ground underneath Kouga's left shoulder, and bits of glass stuck out of his arm at odd angles. Kagome screeched and launched herself at her stepbrother, pushing him off of Kouga as hard as she could before turning to pull her boyfriend up off the ground. Inuyasha hit the island in the center of the kitchen with a grunt, shaking his head and getting up before he had to hear it from Kagome.

After making sure he was conscious, if not okay, Kagome's expression of concern shifted to annoyance as she took in the haughty expression on Kouga's bloody face.

"What the hell was that about, huh?"

"Aw babe, can't you see a guy's hurt? Gimme a hand will ya?"

Sighing, Kagome acquiesced, holding her hand out for Kouga to grab and hoist himself to a standing position before examining the glass bits in the back of his left arm. Pulling them out as if they were mere slivers, Kouga tossed the shards on the floor and put a thumb to his lower lip, smearing the clotting blood pooling from the corner of his mouth. Kagome looked on in surprise for a second before grabbing the dustpan from under the sink to clean up the mess on the floor.

It took another fifteen minutes for Kouga to reemerge from the bathroom, his face clean if bruised and his arm neatly bandaged.

"Seriously, what the fuck, Kouga?"

"Don't worry about it babe, the guy just can't handle a little harmless teasin's all."

Kagome was still pissed, but let the subject drop as she knew both the boys were okay, even if they were both complete idiots.

* * *

Deep down, she knew she shouldn't have let the obvious animosity between her stepbrother and boyfriend go so easily, and the gnawing worry she pushed to the back of her brain continued to peak at times when Inuyasha stomped angrily up the stairs in the afternoon, slamming his bedroom door behind him and turning his most violent music up to maximum volume. For Kouga's part, he continued to pretend like nothing was going on, content to fondle her in his car on warm afternoons and drag her to parties with his group of friends, which consisted mainly of guys she wouldn't have felt comfortable with alone. With Rin and Sango occupied more and more of the time as summer progressed, Kagome ignored any worries she had and forced herself to be content with being beach arm-candy for Kouga as long as she got free drinks and a chance to play in the ocean out of it.

August wore down, the warm days getting shorter and shorter and warning Kagome that her second year of high school was approaching fast. On a Saturday after a rare Friday night spent at home, Kagome woke up around two in the afternoon and wandered down to eat a late breakfast before taking a leisurely dip in the pool, choosing to forego calling Kouga as she didn't really feel like seeing him that day. She was enjoying the long rays of brilliant sunlight, feeling them soak into the skin of her face and stomach, when she heard a car door opening and closing in the car parking area in front of the house. Knowing that both Touga and Sesshoumaru worked until around six in the evening, even in the summer, and that her mom was away on a spa trip with friends until the next Wednesday, she figured that only left her angry older stepbrother as the likely noisemaker.

When loud music didn't pour from the cracked window of his bedroom for over forty minutes, Kagome began to get curious, wondering if maybe his friends had dropped him off still drunk enough from the night before that he passed out before making his way up the stairs to collapse in his room. Taking off her sunglasses and wrapping a sarong around her waist, she stepped into the flip-flops she brought outside and made her way through the back door and into the living room on the main floor, treading lightly so as not to disturb Inuyasha if her original suspicions proved correct. Only once she scoured the whole of the downstairs and found no trace of him did she open the door to the genkan to check for evidence of his shoes, hoping to verify that he was, in fact, home. He was still not there, and neither were his shoes.

Shaking her head in confusion, she turned to go back inside when she heard a muffled moan coming from the courtyard beyond the outer door to the genkan. Moving slowly, Kagome carefully opened the outer door and peered around the edge, breathing deep to prepare herself for what lay outside.

Apparently, even a deep breath wasn't enough to halt the gasp of horror that fled her mouth when she saw the bloody, bruised form of her stepbrother curled over in the stones next to the pathway through the courtyard. Rushing over on loudly crunching feet, Kagome knelt in the gravel and thrust her palm under his nose, reassuring herself that he was still breathing before reaching two shaking fingers to the pulse point on his neck, attempting to ascertain from his heartbeat just how bad off he was. When his heartbeat thrummed through her fingers slow but strong she knew he would be okay, as long as she could get him to stand long enough to get him into the house to treat his wounds and get him into bed.

With an unladylike groan at the effort, she yanked his least injured arm as gently as she could, pulling him to sitting before tapping the sides of his cheeks lightly to get him to open his eyes. Bluish-red lids slid upwards slowly, one lagging behind the other as the enlarged pupils shrunk rapidly to accommodate the bright sunlight of the summer afternoon playing over Kagome's shoulder.

"Inuyasha, hey, can you hear me?"

"Eh…w-wha-a…wh-t t-th fu-uck, K'gome?"

"Hey, you think you can put your arm around my shoulder and use me to stand up, huh?"

"Uuuuuugh…fuck."

"Yea, I know. Just stand up slowly, that's it. Okay, now we're gonna go inside and I'm gonna try to clean you up, k?"

Inuyasha winced as she pulled up as slowly as she could while still maintaining balance, straining every muscle in her thighs and back as she tried to lift what essentially amounted to almost all of her stepbrother's dead weight. Soft grunts escaped his lips as she shuffled them up onto the porch and into the house, but a low groan and several discernible expletives spewed forth once they reached the stairs that would lead them to his room. Kagome pulled him along firmly, knowing the sooner they reached his room, the sooner she could figure out what the damage really was and clean him up before anyone else came home and saw the state he was in. It took them about fifteen minutes to make the trek upstairs, slipping and stumbling against one another as they leaned heavily against the banister for support and moved slowly, one step at a time.

He landed with a thud on the messy black sheets on his bed, sinking into the wall she sat him against while she ran to get water, towels and bandages from the bathroom down the hall. A wry smile cracked the torn skin on his lips open again, causing blood to pool at the corner of his mouth and slide down to his chin, drawing a thick red trail he didn't bother to wipe off with his equally bloody hand. An unknown number of minutes passed before a cool glass of water bumped against his lips, pressing downward and tilting until his jaws were forced apart to accept the flood of liquid relief that gushed quickly down his burning throat. After he had drained half the glass in three leisurely gulps, Kagome removed the glass and got to work mopping the blood off his face and out of his hair.

By the time she had cut his shirt off and bandaged the wounds on his head, neck, face, torso, arms and hands, Inuyasha had fallen back asleep and she found she wasn't quite ballsy enough to remove his pants to check for more wounds there. His breathing had evened out, his heartbeat gaining strength and the formerly contorted muscles in his jaw and neck relaxed as his body was apparently relieved of some of its distress. She left him to sleep it off and determined to nag the answer out of him tomorrow on pain of her revealing this recent weakness to his father, or worse yet, Sesshoumaru.

* * *

He slept for the whole night and through the morning before feeling well enough to draw her to his room with familiar strains of blasting video game noise and rock music around noon. Still wearing her summer pajamas, Kagome peeked her head into his room, feeling foolish even though she had done much more to invade his personal space as she was stripping the clothes from his body in order to clean and bandage his body in his sleep. Dark eyes glanced her way with aloof coolness before returning to his television screen, his white-wrapped hands squeezing the controller and jamming buttons to make his character shoot an automatic weapon at several approaching zombies.

Kagome moved to sit next to him on the bed, turning with a look of concern before softly venturing a, "He-hey Inuyasha, how're you feeling?"

With a visible shrug, Inuyasha grunted out a barely audible, "eh," before returning to his game.

"I-I mean, you were pretty messed up yesterday, are you sure you're feeling up to this?"

"What do you want again?"

His callousness pried its way underneath the calm layers of her concern, prickling her irritation enough that she pushed his shoulder and ignored his brief wince, hmphing angrily and growling out, "Well, what happened? You get into another fight or something? You get bored and decide to go pick on some yakuza downtown? You try to see if your motorcycle has flight capabilities? What was it?"

The bristly glare that met hers at the end of her tirade confirmed that her brother was well enough to argue with, so she didn't feel too badly about laying into him like that, especially if it meant he was finally talking to her again. She was so caught up in her thoughts of trying to persuade him to hang out with her again that she missed his muttered reply and had to get him to repeat himself.

"I said, your fuckin' pretty boy toy and his friends caught me outside the train station last night. Fuckers."

She really should have been surprised, but she wasn't. Kouga acted tough, and granted he could take a punch and pull glass out of his shoulder like a champ, but he obviously couldn't get back at the much more skilled fighter in Inuyasha without a troupe of testosterone-driven lackeys willing to beat up on one guy just to save their leader's macho pride.

"He isn't my boy toy anymore. C'mon, get your lazy ass up and let's go get some ice cream. We can get Toadface to drive us to that one place in Outsu you like so much."

* * *

Author's Note: Hey guys, this is going to be a short story, probably with only one or two longish chapters left, but this is the last one that I've finished writing and editing so far, so I'll have to wait to update after this chapter until I've finished my exams. The upside is as soon as I finish my exams I will be done with undergrad and officially moving into the "real world" stage of my life, so wish me luck and thanks for reading!


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